Steel rail for railroads or the like.



G. LANGFORD.

STEEL RAIL Eon RAlLnoAos 0R THE LILLE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 19, |915.

Patented Jan. 16,19%`

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

' G. LANGFORD.

Patented Jan. 16, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Z//wnr t Q.LANGFORD.. STEEL RAIL FOR RAILROADS 0R THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY I9l I9I5. I

Patented. Jan. 16,1%?.

jive/a" l G, LANGIORD- STEEL RAIL FOR RAILROADS 0R THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED MAYI9. i915.

@.. Patented Jan. 16, Im?.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

I I I] W eran radicar jerica.

GEORGE LNGFORD, OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS, .ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN IVICKENNA.PROCESS COMPANY, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A. CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

STEEL RAIL FOR RAILROADS OR THE LIKE.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. t6, im t..

Application led May 19, 1915. Serial No. 29,041.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE LANGFORD, a citiaen of the United States,residing at Joliet, in the county of Will and State of Illinois. haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Steel Rails forRailroads or the like, of which the following is a full, clear, concise,and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to steel rails for railroads, or the like.

The chief object of the present invention is to provide a rail ofmaximum efficiency.

lt is a further object of the invention to provide a rail of such designas to enable the same to be employed for special or general trackpurposes with a maximum degree of utility.

A further object is to provide a trackcon struction employing standardrails and special rails of an improved design which are so formed as toimprove theoperating characteristics of rolling stock thereupon.

The rail which is the subject-matter of the present application mayappear in a variety of forms, each containing the underlying idea of soplacing the metal as to sccure the greatest utility thereof, and tomeet, as fully as possible, all the apparently conflicting conditionswhich are to be met in designing a rail that is applicable to a varietyof uses and conditions.

Heretofore in the' art it has been deemed essential to have the railconstructed on a symmetrical pattern. I ind it highly advantageous toseparate the various functions which the rail is required to perform,and to design one part of the rail to take care of one function andanother part of the rail to take care of another function. In thismanner I am enabled to secure a design of rail in which the metal willbe disposed to the best advantage.

Under conditions of operation a railroad rail is subjected to wear whichmay be classified as follows:

First, the wear due to actual grinding down of the tread of the rail,which affects the depth of metal in the head;

Second, the grinding away at the side of the head due to grinding actionof the wheel flanges. This effect causes a decrease in width of thetread;

Third, the wear due to transverse motion, or transverse forces betweenthe face of the wheel and the tread of the rail. This causes a sidewiseHow of the metal at the upper outer corner of the head; and, fourth, thewear on the bottom sides of the head due to friction at the joints. Thischanges the contour of the fishing, where the joints or anglebarsconnect the ends of the rails.

The first three types of wear may be compensated for by properlydisposing the metal of the upper part of the head in accordance with myinvention; and the last type of wear may be corrected by a properdisposition of the metal of the lower part of the head, in accordancewith my invention.

Ishall now describe, in connection with the accompanying drawings, whichform a part of the present specification, the manner in which myinvention may be employed in practice.

Figure 1 is a chart illustrating approximately the various degrees andamounts of wear that a rail may be subjected to and the approximate formthat the rail will assume under varying conditions. (A) illustrates adegree of wear such as might occur on tangent track. The rail is takenout because of destruction of the fishing. (B) illustrates a worsecondition. (C) illustrates a further degree of wear. (D) illustrates abadly worn rail such as might occur on the outer rail on a curve. (E)illustrates a worse condition such as may occur under the samecondition. (F) illustrates a type of worn rail such as occurs on theinner rail of curves.

ln Fig. 2 l have illustrated, in outline, the cross-section of astandard 10Q-lb. rail, together with the angle-bars for forming the`oint.

J ln Fig. 3 l have shown, in outline, a section of a rail constructedaccording to my invention.

In Fig. 4 I have illustrated a modiiication carrying still further theprinclples of my invention. In Fig. 5 I have illustrated a different enibodimcnt; and, in Fig.l 6I have shown a diagrammatic illustration of amotion of track employing rails constructed in accordance with myinvention.

Fig. 2 shows, in outline, a standard 10U-lb. rail with the angle-plate 1and 2 forming the joint. These plates are wedged between lili@ the head3. and the base or flange 4, and

form struts or girders between the ends of rails to form continuoustrack.- y Assumi that the left-hand face 5 is the gage s1de, it will beseen that as the flangesof the wh'eels scrape lpast this surface themetal will be ground away and eventually the metal would be ground awayto such a point that if the depth of head were not greater than thewidth of the ybar 2, so that as the-'se two degrees of wearincrease theflange will eventually strike the angle-bar'2 at 20 and the rail,according to good practice, must then be ltaken out of the track.' Atvthe same time the metal flows voutward in the upper head corner 9 onthe right-hand side, due to combined ver.

tical and lateral forces andl motion of the i wheels.

If it were desired to increase the strength or wearing qualities of thesection, the head might be made deeper and thicker, but, considered froma metallurgical standpoint,

lthis would not be good practice, since the rate of cooling of the headwould be very much below that of the web and the flange andinternalstresses would be set up which would be injuriousto the qualityof the rail. Furthermore, the rail would warp excessively on coolingand` would require excessive labor to straighten it. Hence, the priorart has taught an increase in all the dimensions of the section where itis desired to secure greater strength. A perfectly symi metrical railemploys a percentage of metal on the outer sidevof the head which adds'very little to the strength and possibly nothing to the wearingqualities.

According to my invention, I construct the rail with the gage sideparticularly adapted for wea-r, and construct the outside of the railwith the idea of attaining girder strength andmaintaining a full bearingbel tween the bottom .of the head and the top of the angle-bars.

In Fig. I have shown, in outline, one form 1n whlch the rail may beconstructed.

This section is ,shown as having the flange 4 and the web 11 constructedsubstantially in accordance with the standard dimensions of a givenweight vofrail; in fact thev entire left side of this rail isconstructed in outline following the contour of a standard section ofrail. The right side follows the contour of a standard new rail so faras the fishing, the web and the flange are concerned; but the outer faceof the head 10 slopes upward and inward, so that this side of the headis considerably lighter than the other half. This type of constructionallows of a very decided advantage in providing a section such thatadded metal can be placed at the point where it is needed with1 outundue increase in weight of the rail. The width of angle-bar bea-ringsis as great as that obtained in standard rails and may, if desired, bemade greater upon the outer orright-hand side, as shown in Fig. 3. Byproperly forming the angle of the side l0 it is possible, first, tocontrol the width of tread; second, to control the amount of metal inthe head and to dispose the same so that the amount of metal for wear orfor joint bearings may be properly distributed; third, control of themetallurgical difficulties incident to cooling, and the like, bysecuring greatersurface. The tapered side 10 also provides greaterstrength against sidewiseflow of the metal at the corner 9.

As the tread 6 and the side 5 of the rail wear down and in, there is anautomatic compensation due to the tapered side 10, so

that the tread remains substantially constant. This form of rail isdesigned to be interchangeable with standard rails as employed by thevarious railroads, or interchangeable with thel particular standardemployed by any particularl railroad. I have found that it is possibleto produce this shape and style of rail from badly worn rails whichwould otherwise be classed as scrap. In a co-pending application, Case2, I have disclosed a method whereby a badly worn rail may be shapedinto this style of rail at a very slight cost, so that the worn rail maybe replaced in the track and used further so as to prolong, to a greatextent, the useful life of the rail.

As outlined in the co-pending application above referred to, I find thatit is possible to take rails which are badly worn, as shown at D in Fig1, and, by the process particularly set out and claimed in thatapplication, I am enabled to bring the rails to the shape shown in lig.' 3. This process consists, briefly, in heating the worn rails to apoint below the temperature at which the physical condition of the steelwould be injuriously affected; then running the same through properlyshaped rolls to bring the rails to the general outline or cross-sectionshown in Fig. 2. The ends of the renewed rails are then sawed off, stillleaving the rail at approximately the original length.

The qualities which characterize the outline shown in Fig.`3 are thatthe rail so re- 125 newed or treated shall have the same generalstandard dimensions, or substantially the same, as the original railwith the exception that the width of tread has been decreased bychanging the taper on one side of the ug naraaea m head, the ishing hasbeen restored, the rail has been trued up and straightened and the metalhas been redistributed.

Rails of the section such as shown in Fig. t 3 may be employed ontangent track and may be employed to particular advantage on curvedtrack where the slope of the side has been made so great as tomaterially reduce the tread 6 of the rails.

' 1d lin Fig. 6 I have shown the rails 17, 18

vand 19 as bein of the structure shown in Fig. 3 and having aconsiderably narrower tread than the standard rails to which these railsare connected to form a track. 1 wish M it to be understood,however,that 1 do not intend to limit the use of the rail embodying my inventionto any particular position in the track, but intend that the same may beused wherever found advantageous; the E@ teaching of my invention being,broadly, a correct disposition of the metal in the head of the rail tosecure maximum wearing surtace and maximum strength with a minimum ofmaterial. tb

side of the rail corresponds to the general contourl of a standard rail.This side oi' the rail is employed to secure the best possible wearingqualities. The right side of the ysection has been designed to obtainmaximum strength and to this end the width or depth of the fishing hasbeen increased so as to obtain greater girder strength at the fm joint.llf desired, the fishing on the gage side may be decreased'in depth soas to obtain a greater depth of head at the side 5.

The bearing surfaces 7 and S may either one be broadened, if desired, toobtainan M increased wearing surfaceof the angle-bar on either side. Theweb and flange are preferably made symmetrical.

Fig. 5 is a further employment of the principles found in the structuresof Figs. M 3 and 4f and provides a rail in which the left side isdesigned to obtain increased wearing qualities, while the right-handside has been designed to obtain greater strength at the oint. I m Thetwo sides of the rail have purposely been made unsymmetrical, with theidea that the greater depth of head on the side 5 can be used to decidedadvantage on curved track. Each side of the head may be made a5 wider soas to obtain a greater bearing area between the bottom of the head andthe angle-bars 1 and 2. The increased depth of fishing also securesgreater girder strength of the angle-bar and greater tu strength of therail for the same weight ot metal, so that this side of the rail makesup in strength for the loss on the service side of the rail, withoutunduly increasing the height or weight of the rail itself. 'llhe et railis also capable of being reversed and em Fig. 4: shows a structureinwhich 'the leftv ployed with the narrower depth of head on the flangeside, ii" so desired.

Fig. 1 shows in chart form a comprehensive scheme for renewing rails.The rails as they are taken up from the` track are sorted out accordingto the degree of wear.v Fig. l illustrates a scheme of .grading which Imay employ. The grade shown at A may be renewed into a symmetrical rail,as shown and described in my co-pending application (Case 1). 'Thegrades shown at B and C may be similarly renewed into symmetricalstandard rails, as there described. Or the grade shown at C may berenewed into the narrow-tread rail for curves as described in myco-pending appli'- cation Case 4.

The grade shown at D may be renewed into the form shown in applicationCase 4, to be used for curves; or, where the metal is sufficient to giveafairly wide tread, the rail may be used in tangent track, as set out inthe present application.

The grade shown at E (Fig. l) may be renewed into the maximum utilitytype of unsymmetrical rail as set out in the present application, usableeither on curved or tangenttrack.

rll`he grade shown at F (Fig. 1) may be renewed into the maximum utilityrail described in the present application.

1 do not intend. to be limited to grading the rails in the precisemanner above set out, the above being only one scheme for doing thesame.

lBy properly prcportioning the various dimensions the variousqualitleswhich may be desired can be controlled so as to obtain a rail to meetany particular condition or requirement.

What 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. A railroad rail comprising a service or wearing side and a strengthslde, the serv ice side comprising head, web and iiange .portions ofsubstantially standard dimensions, the strength sidecomprising aflangeportion similar in 'all substantial respects to the Harige portion otthe service side, a web portion oi' greater height than the web portion.of the other side, and a head portion having full bearing surfaces forthe angle-bars, but comprising less metal than the head portion of theother side said rail comprising less metal per unit of length than astandard rail. .i

2. A railroad rail adapted for use in connection with standard rails,comprising a service side, and a strength side, said service sidecomprising head, flange, and web portions of substantially standarddimensions, so as to match up with standard rails, said strength sidecomprising a head portion of substantially standard width, a dangeportion of substantially standard di- Miti rea

mensions and a web portion of greater depth than the web of a standardrail.

3. A railroad railadapted for use in connection with standard rails,comprising a service side and a strength side, said service sidecomprising head, flange, and web portion of substantially standarddimensions, so as to match up with a standard rail, said strength sidecomprising a head portion of substantially standard width to give fullbearing surface for the angle-bar, and a tape-red side to reduce thetread of the rail and to produce a lighter rail head,

outer side of the head having substantially the same width at the basethereof and the same contour of the parts joining the web, but havingits side face tapered in toward the top to conform to the generalcontour of wear of a worn rail, the depth of head being substantiallystandard, a standard rail placed end to end with said rail, and standardangle-bars joining the same to form a continuous track.

5. A railroad rail substantially standard in all its dimensions exceptas to the head and the fishing of one side, said head being'unsymmetricah the inner side of said head conforming substantially tothe outline of a new standard rail, andthe outer side of said headhaving its side sloped inward but being of substantially standard widthand contour at the base thereof` the fishing, the web and the base ofsaid rail being substantially standard in all respects soas to becapable of use with standard fittings such as may be employed with newstandard rails.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 17th day of May,A. D. 1915.

GEORGE LANGFORD.

